Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

As I placed my red duffle bag in the trunk of the car and assumed a comfortable place in the car to begin what would be a 10 hour journey to Eastern Nigeria, I knew I would be reading “Things Fall Apart”.

However, reading this book was not going to be the only thing I was to be doing; I was to read a surgery text and put some finishing work on the bead necklace I was making. At the end of the trip I had achieved reading “Things Fall Apart” only, seeing as I could not drop the book.

‘Things Fall Apart’ is a novel written by Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic – Chinua Achebe and it was written in 1958. The title was inspired by the last line of William Butler Yeats poem “The Second Coming”; the last line read ‘ Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold’.

This is the second time I would have read this book, although I cannot recall my feelings about the book the first time I read it. On completion of the book, I met a woman of over 60 years who said she had read the book over 10 times – she was so excited to have a conversation about the book and at the end, she said ‘Things Fall Apart is timeless’.

Things Fall Apart is a story of a man called Okonkwo and is set in Eastern Nigeria among the Ibos – it is a story rich in character and culture.
Okonkwo the main character is a successful farmer with three wives and many children, he is an ambitious man whose biggest fear in life is becoming his father whom he regards as weak and unsuccessful. Things are great for Okonkwo and his clan until Okonkwo makes a few mistakes, the introduction of colonialism begins and things fall apart.

The story was written in the third person. As I read, I could not help wondering what it would have felt like if Okonkwo had been the first-person writer; that would have been a nice angle to understanding the reason for Okonkwo’s actions, although I fear he would have appeared weak. Chinua Achebe was able to stir the story in the direction he wanted in a beautifully executed third-person writing.

For every chapter in the book, I felt like I was being immersed in the Ibo culture. Chinua was able to weave core Ibo culture beautifully into the story, he touched the ruling system among the Ibos, the division into clans, the negotiation of bride price and the marriage ceremony, the justice system and some cultural belief such as Ogbanjes- the repeated death and return of a child to the same mother.
Although the book was difficult to drop once I began, I felt the plot moved rather too slowly and it only began to climax in the last part of the book (The book was divided into three parts). I also noticed that a lot of emphasis was placed on the character ‘Ezinma’ and felt there was more she was to do, only to complete the book still unsure the reason for such emphasis. I also noticed that Ezinma was not the only character who was overly described when less emphasis would have been just fine.

In the first part of the book, I was overwhelmed by the introduction of many characters with similar names, but once I realized that it was Chinua’s style and I needed to pay close attention to the names, it became less overwhelming and I was able to keep up.

Chinua must have loved the word ‘gay’ as it was one word I saw repeatedly. First time I encountered the word in the book the meaning that came to mind was ‘sexual attraction to someone of same sex’ when the meaning intended in the context was ‘cheerful and lively’ – if Chinua Achebe had known in 1958 that people would think sexual attraction before cheerful when they saw the word, would he have used a synonym?

At the end of the book, I thought “What brought about Okonkwo’s downfall? Was it because he killed Ikemefuna?” I realized that like the Moonlight stories I grew up listening to, there was a lesson to learn, except that Chinua left us (the reader) to find it. I think Okonkwo’s downfall was brought about by his great fear – the fear of appearing weak; the fear of becoming his father. It was this fear that made him always act too swiftly without thinking about the consequences.

Would I recommend Things Fall Apart to read? Yes, definitely! It is a great book for exposure to Africa – especially the Ibos of Eastern Nigeria. Although, it’s been many years since 1958 and a lot has changed in the area of culture and writing, I do however agree that ‘Things Fall Apart is timeless’.

On a scale of 1-10 would rate ‘Things Fall Apart’ a 7. (It lost one for a dragging plot, and one for unnecessary characters and one for…. You read the book and decide).

If you do read the book or have read the book ‘Do you think Ogbanjes exist? Do you think Chinua Achebe wrote of the white men like he had a personal bias towards them?